Biography
1952 - Paul Marciano Was Born Paul Marciano was born in 1952 in Debdou, Morocco to a Jewish family and raised in Marseilles, France with his four siblings: Georges, Armand, Maurice and Jacqueline. He comes from a long family of rabbis. His father was a rabbi in Marseilles from 1954 until about 1986. They grew up in an apartment inside a synagogue complex and the Jewish Boy Scouts (Éclaireurs israelites de France) which all of the brothers were members – were under the synagogue. 1967 - The First Struggle At 15, Paul and a friend were involved in a motorcycle accident when they were crushed by a speeding vehicle. After being told he would never walk again, he spent seven months in a wheelchair. He eventually regained full use of his limbs after a year and a half, but was not re-accepted into school due to his long absence. Unable to finish his education, he traveled to Israel to live in a kibbutz… 1969 - Paul’s First Job When Paul was 17 he came back to Marseilles and started working as a salesman in a jeans store, and on Saturdays and Sundays he worked in a club checking coats alongside his brothers Georges –who was at the front door and Maurice – who was at the bar. At that time, Georges, his brother, started to design ties. Maurice started to work with him manufacturing the ties, and Paul would sell the designs in Paris, going back and forth, until he sold them all. Ties led to blouses for women. One style, one size, one color: all-white. 1973 - MGA Their success led to the opening of their company MGA – Maurice, Georges, Armand. They opened their first store in 1973 in Bandol, on a side street, in an old fish store. They continue with the blouses and started to manufacture dresses the same as they did with the blouses: one size, one style, different fabrics, and different prints. Then they continue to make pants and then jeans. They started selling stonewashed jeans back in 1976 while having twenty stores already. 1977 - Arriving to America On October 1977 the brothers went for a week-and-a-half vacation at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in L.A. they eventually stayed for a month and a half. Before they left, they bought a condominium and signed leases for two stores. Three weeks later Georges came back and stayed there with Maurice. Two years later, after wrapping up their business in France, Armand and Paul arrived. 1981 - Leaving France Paul and his brothers left France in 1981 for a few reasons, including a tax dispute with the French officials and anti-Semite. They did so while barely knowing how to speak English. Maurice was the only one who spoke it, because he learned it at school. 1981 - Guess Guess started in December 1981 by Georges and Maurice first. Meanwhile Armand and Paul were managing the retail operations of MGA- that had 4 stores in the USA. They joined Guess a couple of months later. The name Guess came to Georges while the brothers were driving to work together, like they did every day, and saw a huge billboard that said “GUESS what’s in the new big mac?” The biggest word was Guess, and that’s how Georges came up with the name. Maurcio came up with the question mark. In 1982 Paul and Armand joined their brothers. That’s when Paul decided to do the advertising for the company. He started with a low budget and the help of his friends. In just one year, sales came up to $6M 1984 - Jordache Guess grew very fast and in 1984 Jordache offered them to become partners and they agreed. From then on things didn’t work out with the partnership with Jordache and in 1989, after a long legal feud, a California superior court jury found that Jorsache and the owners had fraudulently lured the Marcianos into the transaction. They separated forces in 1990. 1993 - President of Guess In 1993 Paul became the president and chief operating officer of the company. 1994 - Paul is Getting Married Paul has been married twice. His first wife was model and photographer Kymberly Marciano. They had two children Nicolai (born 1995) and Ella (born 1996) . 2004 - Majority Owners In 2004, Paul and Maurice Marciano together owned close to 70 percent of the 44 million shares. 2015 - Executive Chairman In August 2015, Paul Marciano stepped down as the CEO of Guess. He became Executive Chairman and remained Guess’ chief creative officer 2016 - Married For the Second Time In 2016, he married French model, Mareva Georges, Miss Tahiti 1990 and Miss France 1991, in Bora Bora. They have two children, Ryan (born 2006) and Gia (born 2012) and live in Los Angeles. Mareva Georges works as an advocate for the protection of children and women from abuse 2017 - Marciano Art Foundation The Marciano Art Foundation was established by Maurice and Paul Marciano, and it’s a non-profit arts foundation. The museum opened on May 25, 2017 as an exhibition space to display their 1,500-piece collection of contemporary art. The museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.